THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 1 FEBRUARY 1974

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006007662
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: February 1, 1974

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/06/22 : CIA-RDP79T00936A011900010052-8
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The President's Daily Brief
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1,11/11
February 1, 1974
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of Ea I 1652
exemption category 58(1),(2),(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
February 1, 1974
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
An item on South Vietnam appears on Page 1.
The alleged discovery of a plot against the Libyan
regime and President Qadhafi's five-day absence from
public view have given rise to rumors of serious
strains within the Libyan leadership. (Page 2)
The French Government has publicly acknowledged that
it is developing an air-to-surface missile which can
carry a 500-kiloton nuclear warhead. (Page 4)
The Soviets are currently displaying a go-slow atti-
tude toward the MBFR talks, probably for tactical
purposes. (Page 5)
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
.Cnton
NORTH
VIETNAM
Hanoi.
LAOS
THAILAND
CAMBODIA
Hai n Nhum Ba
>Man Minh Hoe
Han Nam Du-
.? Thto
Chau
,Saigon
a
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HAI-NAN
TAO
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PARACEL
?Da Nang.
SOUTH
VIETNAM
' HONG KONG
.,MACAO (U.K.)
(Port.)
SOUTH
CHINA
Northeast City..., ?
Sand Cay
Spratly. Islands .! ? .1..
- Sin
C owe
SP"tlY\ S EA ?
Amboyna. '
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ISLAND
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c,53,
REPUBL4C
OF
CHIN
AI WAN
Kao-hsiung
LUZON
Manila
PHILIPPINES
`3
PALA WAN
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SOUTH VIETNAM
A South Vietnamese task force of three ships
and 136 men began'tomake?landings on the Spratly
group of islands this morning without incident..
The islands involved are Sin Cowe, Spratly., Amboyna,
Northeast Cay, and Sand Cay. The commander of the
task force has been told not to engage any other
military forces that might be in the area, and not
to attempt landings on any occupied islands.
South Vietnamese troops on January 30 also re-
inforced two of the islands they claim in the Gulf
of Thailand and occupied three others
One of the islands--Hai
Tac--is near the disputed line that separates Cam-
bodia and Vietnam. Saigon has maintained a mili-
tary garrison and radar station on this island for
several years; it is therefore unlikely that its
moves will be contested. The other four islands
are generally acknowledged to be within South Viet-
nam's territorial waters.
Saigon's moves may be related to its plans for
granting further offshore oil exploration rights.
Apparently as a result of recently intensified dis-
putes over the Paracels and the Spratlys, Saigon
moved up its timetable for oil company bidding for
concessions, many of which are in the Gulf of Thai-
land. The bidding will now take place in February
or March, several months ahead of the original
schedule. Sai-
gon urgently needs foreign exchange and is deter-
mined to move on concessions before other countries
with conflicting claims can act.
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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LIBYA
? The alleged discovery of a plot against the
Libyan regime, and President Qadhafi's five-day ab-
sence from public view, have given rise to rumors
of serious strains within the Libyan leadership.
No unusual military or security activity has been
observed in Tripoli, however, and Qadhafi reappeared
yesterday, apparently in firm control.
The discovery of the plot and the lack of posi-
tive results from his meeting with Tunisian Presi-
dent Bourguiba in Geneva last week apparently
prompted President Qadhafi to retreat into tempo-
rary seclusion. Qadhafi is deeply disappointed by
the course of events in the Middle East, the fail-
ure of his Tunisian merger initiative, and his
troubles at home. In the past, such withdrawals
have led to threats by Qadhafi to resign. If he
does so again, it may intensify tensions within
the regime.
(continued)
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FRANCE
The French Government has publicly announced
that it is developing an air-to-surface missile
which can carry a 500-kiloton nuclear warhead and
which will have a range of 50 to 90 miles.
The French reportedly plan to use the missile
with their next-generation tactical aircraft, a
fixed-wing version of the Mirage G8. The aircraft-
missile combination would provide additional deep-
strike capability and could take over some missions
of the aging Mirage IV strategic bombers.
The French Government has ordered a prototype
of the new plane, designated the G8A, which should
become operational toward the end of the decade.
4
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USSR-MBFR
The Soviets are currently displaying a go-slow
attitude toward the MBFR talks, probably for tactical
purposes. Moscow's chief delegate has told a US rep-
resentative that he plans a sight-seeing excursion
soon since "in view of the pace of negotiations,"
there is time to make such a trip. He has also
raised the question of Easter and summer recesses,
thus implying that prolonged negotiations are ex-
pected. Brezhnev similarly took a negative attitude
in his recent Havana speech when he questioned the
sincerity of some Western participants in the talks.
The Soviets apparently do not see a need to make
any conciliatory gesture in the near future. They
have a draft on the table and believe that the next
move is up to NATO.
Moscow's chief delegate has also made a strong
pitch for private US-USSR discussions. While he ap-
parently tried to give the impression that the pres-
ence of Soviet allies might restrict Soviet freedom
of maneuver, it is more likely that his offer was
made to create mistrust and disarray in the NATO
camp.
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Top Secret
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